Airplanes
by KouenTaisa
Summary: Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now. A series of Kate/Gibbs moments. Just one more chapter left.
1. Can We Pretend

**Title:** Can We Pretend  
**Author:** KouenTaisa [on ] Chedders  
**Rating:** K+  
**Fandom:** NCIS  
**Pairing:** Gibbs/Kate  
**Status:** Incomplete  
**Category:** Drabble, Fun and Fluff  
**Spoilers:** Yankee White.  
**Summary:** Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now. A series of Gibbs/Kate moments.  
**A/N:** My first attempt at Kibbs. A small series.

The flirtation was light at first.

Teasing.

They danced around each other, pushing all of the right buttons as if they had known each other for years instead of minutes. He admired her guts, and she had to admire his drive, as well as his brains. It was just a game, though, and it would end just as fast as it started. At least, that's what she thought.

"I heard you quit, Agent Todd."

She glanced over at him, keeping pace as they walked. "Happy news gets around fast. Yes, I resigned. It was the right thing to do."

"Yup. Pull that crap at NCIS, I won't give you a chance to resign."

The smirk on his face was noticeable as he walked past her. She paused, staring in surprise at his back.

"Is that a job offer?"

A smile settled on her face as she watched him jump into a convertible with a red-head, but it was okay. She could still pretend.


	2. That Airplanes In The Night Sky

**Title:** That Airplanes In The Night Sky  
**Author:** KouenTaisa [on ] Chedders  
**Rating:** K+  
**Fandom:** NCIS  
**Pairing:** Gibbs/Kate  
**Status:** Complete  
**Category:** Drabble, Angst, Hurt/Comfort  
**Spoilers:** Heart-Break  
**Summary:** Because if it happens once, it can happen again.  
**A/N:** A slight continuation, moving on from the first part of this.

She was still staring down at the body in the morgue when he found her. It wasn't so much a lucky guess as to where she was hiding, but his gut that had brought him down here to find her. He had been cruel earlier, but he hadn't lied to her.

"Staring at him won't change anything, Kate."

He had almost expected her to startle, but she didn't. The only indication that she heard him was in the way that she shifted away from the body on the table, trying to distance herself. Gibbs stopped short of her, standing an arms length away. The look on her face is distance. Disconnected.

She isn't herself, and it almost throws him off, but he has seen her vulnerable before, and he recognizes the look. This time, however, it's dull and subdued, not hysterical like it had been on Air Force One.

"He was innocent, Gibbs-"

"Suicide by cop-"

"That doesn't change the fact that he was innocent-"

"He knew what he was doing, Kate. Why can't you let this go?" his tone was sharp as he cut her off again. She glanced up at him before looking away. Her fingers dug into the fabric of the red turtle neck she was wearing, but she didn't let herself break. Not here, standing across from Gibbs.

"… because I didn't second guess myself when I shot him. The moment I thought he was going to shoot you, I reacted. I wasn't protecting myself out there, Gibbs, I was protecting you."

Her voice is louder than he expected, but the answer is what he knew it would be. Sighing, he steps closer to her. He doesn't hesitate in his actions, knowing that if he second guesses himself, he won't do it. Leaning forward, he drapes his arms around her shoulders, pulling her to his chest. Gibbs drops a single kiss to the top of her head, making sure that her body is pressed tightly to his.

"I know you did, Kate."

Those are the words that cause her to break. Gibbs just holds her, much like he did that first time on the Air Force One, but this is different, because Kate is on his team now.

She is his, and he will do anything to protect his own.


	3. Are Like Shooting Stars

**Title:** Are Like Shooting Stars  
**Author:** KouenTaisa [on ] Chedders  
**Rating:** K+  
**Fandom:** NCIS  
**Pairing:** Gibbs/Kate  
**Status:** Complete  
**Category:** Drabble, Angst, Hurt/Comfort  
**Spoilers:** Yankee White, Bete Noir, Reveille  
**Summary:** It's the moments that define how you feel.  
**A/N:** One more chapter to go.

The first shot burned down the back of his throat, warming him for only a moment.

_She was crying, her fists hitting against his chest repeatedly as she called him an asshole._

The second shot was slower to burn, but it was just as raw.

_She was laughing with Tony, the twinkle in her eye beautiful and amazing. It was just a single glance, but he would always remember it. It made laugh too._

The third drink it took him two tries to get down, the memory making his throat close up for a moment.

_He was holding her hostage in autopsy with Gerald and Ducky, but he worried because it was her and his gut was screaming. _

The thought of the bullet tearing through his shoulder made him go for a fourth shot. Three tries and it was completely gone.

_She was waiting for him when he exited the elevator to get the rest of his things from the bullpen. Her skin was pale, but the shaky smile on her face was meant just for him._

He was pouring a fifth when he felt two arms wrap around his neck and a chin resting on top of his head. Instantly he relaxed, closing his eyes as he pushed the fifth shot of bourbon away. The warm arms tightened around his neck for a moment before the weight on the top of his head disappeared.

"You've been down here for awhile." her voice was soft, her breath warm against his cheek. She was worried, but she wouldn't say it aloud. She knew better. Shifting, Gibbs reached up, brushing his fingers along her arm. Even though he couldn't see it, he knew that she was smiling.

"Ready for bed?"

The gentle kiss on his cheek was all he needed. Leaving the fifth shot on the table, he got up and turned to look at his woman. Kate was standing there in nothing but one of his old shirts, and as much as it turned him on, it also warmed his heart to see her so comfortable. She held out her hand for him and he took it, lacing their fingers together as he headed toward the stairs.

Letting go of her hand, Gibbs watch as she headed for his bedroom before turning to cut the lights off in the basement. Pausing at the top of the stairs, he closed his eyes for a moment.

_He opened the body bag, staring down into her once smiling face. She was dead… her eyes cold. One shot._

Opening his eyes, Gibbs turned off the lights, turning his back on the basement and the things that haunted him. For now.


	4. I Could Really Use A Wish Right Now

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long, but I just... couldn't figure out what to write, and then I was listening to the song _In My Veins_ by Andrew Belle and it sort of clicked into place, so I hope you guys like it. This is the end, btw.

**Airplanes**_  
I could really use a wish right now_

He was sitting in his basement, staring at the project he had spent all night working on. The cross was wooden and similarly shaped to the pendant that she had always worn around her neck. He had spent a few good hours putting more detail into his version, however, carving symbols into the wood that represented Kate.

There was a flag, much like the one that she had been buried with in Indiana, but this one was special, and only had a few stars on it. Six. One for each member of his team. Of _her_ team. With painstaking detail, he had also carved a Sig Sauer on the right side and a rose on the left, contrasting her strength and her beauty, and he would smile, but he was too drunk and his emotions were too raw.

Sighing, he ran his fingers over the decorated wood, feeling his chest tighten as he thought of her smile on that rooftop just moment before she died… or as he thought of her sleeping form the night before, and how he had believed he would soon be able to sleep with her again, because the case would end soon. He thought about his dream of her the day Ari held her hostage, of how he had envisioned her in the morgue with the bullet hole through her head. Rubbing his face, he stared at the cross and at the intricate design of a heart and a pencil and the words 'Semper Fi' that he had carved into the back of the wood.

He was tempted to spend the night under his boat, but he knew that Abby would come looking for him sooner or later. She had fallen apart on the plane ride back from Indiana, and even though his own heart had been breaking, he had put his arm around her and held her close. They were hurting, but the pain was different, in the end.

Abby had been Kate's best friend.

He had been her partner, in more ways than one. He trusted her with his six, his life and his body had been in her hands day after day, but he had also trusted her with his heart. He couldn't help but compare this feeling of loss to the one he had experienced when learning that his wife and daughter were dead, and even though he loved his family, in a way, this felt _worse, _because he had been there with Kate. He had been inches from her, and still the bastard had killed her.

Sighing, he got up, knowing that he needed to check on Abby who was in his bed, because he couldn't even think of laying down in that bed. He had tried, once, and the memories had been so painful that he had made Abby go sleep in there while he set up residence in the guest room. He'd already packed up the small touches that had transformed the room from being _his_ into being _theirs_, but it just wasn't enough. Not yet.

Picking up the cross with tired hands, he propped it up against a small box that set on a shelf just above his work bench. That particular box held photos of Shannon and Kelly and his mother, and now, it also held a few treasured photos of Agent Caitlin Todd. He made sure to put the lid back on his bottle of bourbon before he started to leave the basement, pausing at the top of the stairs. Turning back, he glanced down at the faint blood stain on his basement floor and the cross resting against the box.

"Sorry, Kate."

Reaching over, he turned off the light


End file.
